“75% Not Guilty”: Raw Milk Producer Still May Go to Jail

A dairyman who sold milk to buyers by contractual agreement has been declared “not guilty.” The contracts were valid. The jury refused to convict him of having violated Wisconsin laws against selling raw milk. The jury said he was not breaking three state laws against selling without a license.

The jury did convict him on having removed a tape the state placed on refrigerators. He could go to jail for a year and pay $10,000.

The state can still prosecute. The jury’s decision applies only to this case. If the state decides that it wants to risk bad publicity, it can legally continue to prosecute dairymen who follow the victim’s practice of selling to a group of consumers that have special contracts with him.

This is a decision at the margin of society. The average person will not be allowed to walk into a retail outlet and buy raw milk.

The decision affects only one state. It remains a crime in most states for a dairyman to sell raw milk to walk-in customers. The resistance to raw milk by most state regulators, that has gone on for 50 years, will continue.

There is a ray of hope, however. At some price, with some difficulty, consumers and producers may be able to get around the regulatory system. In Wisconsin. For now.

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12 thoughts on ““75% Not Guilty”: Raw Milk Producer Still May Go to Jail”

I much prefer raw milk; has a better flavor; grew up with raw milk delivered to our door. Then during depression we owned a milk cow "Daisy" and my mother milked her and had a "colored" boy (as we called them, then) help her at times (and, yes, he was a "boy"; we were not allowed to call older men "boy" regardless of "color"). The cows were regularly inspected and in clean environment. UUUMMMM, good, RAW MILK!

Raw milk is so much healthier, and it tastes better. It's worth it, having to work around all the hurdles my state puts in my way. However, if there weren't such obstacles to getting it, it would cost a lot less.

Disturbing story our Fascist Government. Taking complete control of the food supply. They are telling us that we can not purchase food directly from a farmer, we can only purchase food from a government controlled supplier. I can not raise a garden in my yard and share the produce, without a permit from the fascist government.. Government controls healthcare , the food supply, the energy supply ., that leaves us with serfdom . Our elected officials and mainstream media allowed this to happen in secret, by stuffing the ballot box and rigging elections we never needed a tea party more .

As a kid we had Nubian Goats and always drank that delicious milk. When newborn babies could not drink their mother's milk or soy etc, the hospital called my mom for the "raw" milk which is fully digested in 20 minutes.

The rank hypocrisy is that the same government that has stockpiled enough rounds of hollow-point to kill every man, woman and child in America 5 times over really does care if some of us ingest raw milk.

In a Free Market the consumer rules. There are people who unknowingly( failing to research) buy "flood cars".
Yes someone could get sick buying raw milk from an unclean dairy, just like someone could lose $$ from buying second hand clunker cars. Buyer beware, but stay the heck out my life with your dammm regulations!

Kill every last politician or government employee or appointee whom gets in the way. Enough of this bull$hit. Take freedom and run with it. Run roughshod all over these pigs whom strive to stifle freedom. Just kill'em!

Is that an example of the punishment fitting the crime?. Why not make all crimes against the state punishable with death. And, it is a crime against the state, there was no harm done, because no one was hurt, and no one lost property.